Readings

November 19: Elizabeth of Hungary, Princess, 1231

The Collect of the Day

Elizabeth of Hungary

Almighty God, by your grace your servant Elizabeth of Hungary recognized and honored Jesus in the poor of this world: Grant that we, following her example, may with love and gladness serve those in any need or trouble, in the name and for the sake of Jesus Christ; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Elizabeth of Hungary

Almighty God, by whose grace thy servant Elizabeth of Hungary recognized and honored Jesus in the poor of this world: Grant that we, following her example, may with love and gladness serve those in any need or trouble, in the name and for the sake of Jesus Christ; who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Ghost, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Elizabeth’s charity is remembered in numerous hospitals that bearher name throughout the world. She was born in 1207 at Pressburg (now Bratislava), daughter of King Andrew II of Hungary, and was married in 1221 to Louis IV, Landgrave of Thuringia, to whom she bore three children.

At an early age she showed concern for the poor and the sick, and was thus attracted to the Franciscans who came to the Wartburg in 1223. From them she received spiritual direction. Her husband was sympathetic to her almsgiving and allowed her to use her dowry for this purpose. During a famine and epidemic in 1226, when her husband was in Italy, she sold her jewels and established a hospital, where she cared for the sick and the poor. To supply their needs, she opened the royal granaries. After her husband’s death in 1227, however, the opposition of the court to such “extravagances” compelled her to leave the Wartburg with her children.

For some time, Elizabeth lived in great distress. She then took the habit of the Franciscans—the first of the Franciscan Tertiaries, or Third Order, in Germany. Finally, arrangements with her family gave her a subsistence, and she spent her remaining years in Marburg, living in self-denial and caring for the sick and needy. She died from exhaustion, November 17th, 1231, and was canonized by Pope Gregory IX four years later. With Louis of France she shares the title of patron of the Third Order of St. Francis.

Lessons and Psalm

First Lesson

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Psalm

4Happy are they who have the God of Jacob for their help! *whose hope is in the Lord their God;

5Who made heaven and earth, the seas, and all that is in them; *who keeps his promise for ever;

6Who gives justice to those who are oppressed, *and food to those who hunger.

7The Lord sets the prisoners free; the Lord opens the eyes of the blind; *the Lord lifts up those who are bowed down;

8The Lord loves the righteous; the Lord cares for the stranger; *he sustains the orphan and widow, but frustrates the way of the wicked.

9The Lord shall reign for ever, *your God, O Zion, throughout all generations. Hallelujah!

Gospel

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Luke 12:32–34

32 “Do not be afraid, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom. 33 Sell your possessions, and give alms. Make purses for yourselves that do not wear out, an unfailing treasure in heaven, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. 34 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

Tobit 12:8–10

8 Prayer with fasting is good, but better than both is almsgiving with righteousness. A little with righteousness is better than wealth with wrongdoing. It is better to give alms than to lay up gold. 9 For almsgiving saves from death and purges away every sin. Those who give alms will enjoy a full life, 10 but those who commit sin and do wrong are their own worst enemies.